Business Processhttp://blogs.forrester.com/taxonomy/term/7/all
enForrester's 10-Step Program On Mastering The Service Experience: A Quick Recaphttp://blogs.forrester.com/kate_leggett/12-03-24-forresters_10_step_program_on_mastering_the_service_experience_a_quick_recap
<p>Today, the gap between a customer's expectations and the customer experience they receive is huge. In our latest <a href="http://www.forrester.com/home#/The+Customer+Experience+Index+2012/quickscan/-/E-RES59377">customer experience survey</a>, we found that just over one-third of US brands deliver a good experience. What is even more surprising is that, in the five years that Forrester has been collecting this data, this number has not significantly changed.</p>
<p>Delivering good customer service is a cornerstone to delivering a good end-to-end customer experience. Yet few companies undertake efforts to follow <a href="http://www.forrester.com/home#/Forresters+Best+Practices+Framework+For+Customer+Service/quickscan/-/E-RES59308">best practices</a>. This lack of attention to customer service has significant impacts for companies: escalating service costs, customer satisfaction numbers at rock-bottom levels, and anecdotes of poor service experiences amplified over social channels that can lead to brand erosion. </p>
<p>Mastering the customer service experience is hard to do. Here is a recap of my 10-step program. I've reordered the steps a little, but the message is still the same:</p>
<p><strong>Master your strategy</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Step 1: <a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/kate_leggett/11-11-07-customer_service_done_right_in_10_easy_steps">Figure out how your customers want to interact with you.</a></li>
<li>Step 2: <a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/kate_leggett/11-11-08-customer_service_done_right_in_10_easy_steps_step_2">Align the service offered with your company's brand.</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Plan and run your operations</strong></p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/kate_leggett/12-03-24-forresters_10_step_program_on_mastering_the_service_experience_a_quick_recap" title="Read the rest of &#039;Forrester&amp;#039;s 10-Step Program On Mastering The Service Experience: A Quick Recap&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_10556 first last"><a href="/category/customer_service_contact_center_crm_scrm" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">customer service; contact center; CRM; SCRM</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/kate_leggett/12-03-24-forresters_10_step_program_on_mastering_the_service_experience_a_quick_recap#commentsBusiness Processcustomer service; contact center; CRM; SCRMSat, 24 Mar 2012 22:42:57 +0000Kate Leggett7525 at http://blogs.forrester.comOracle Wins $1.3 Billion Award Over SAPhttp://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-11-23-oracle_wins_13_billion_award_over_sap
<p>The $1.3 billion verdict in the Oracle v. SAP case is surprising, given that the third-party support subsidiary of SAP, TomorrowNow, was fixing glitches and making compliance updates, not trying to resell the software. The jury felt that the appropriate damage award was based on the fair market value of the software that was illegally downloaded, rather than Oracle's lost revenues for support.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-23/sap-must-pay-oracle-1-3-billion-over-unit-s-downloads.html ">A news article by Bloomberg</a> provides further insight into the jury's thinking and the legal process. Quoting juror Joe Bangay, an auto body technician: "If you take something from someone and you use it, you have to pay." Perhaps SAP should have made its case more in layman's terms.</p>
<p>SAP is in a very difficult position, in that it faces the same threat of revenue loss from third-party support. It was unable to convincingly defend its entry into the third-party support business for fear of legitimizing a business that poses a similar threat to its lucrative maintenance business as to Oracle's.</p>
<p>What happens to the third-party support business going forward? The size of the award potentially dampens customer interest in moving to third-party support, particularly with another case pending of Oracle v. Rimini Street. The SAP case, however, does not invalidate third-party support as a business. Third-party support, if carried out properly, offers an important option for enterprise application customers that are looking for relief from costly vendor maintenance contracts.</p>
<p>For SAP, the verdict is not only painful, but it prolongs the agony, because it is compelled to appeal the verdict. SAP certainly has the financial wherewithal to pay the damages but was hoping to put this embarrassing debacle behind them.</p>
<a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-11-23-oracle_wins_13_billion_award_over_sap" title="Read the rest of &#039;Oracle Wins $1.3 Billion Award Over SAP&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_774 first"><a href="/category/enterprise_applications" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Enterprise Applications</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_76"><a href="/category/oracle" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Oracle</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_323 last"><a href="/category/sap" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">SAP</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-11-23-oracle_wins_13_billion_award_over_sap#commentsBusiness ProcessEnterprise ApplicationsOracleSAPWed, 24 Nov 2010 03:53:18 +0000Paul Hamerman5423 at http://blogs.forrester.comIBM Makes A Good Catch With Clarity Systems Acquisitionhttp://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-10-21-ibm_makes_a_good_catch_with_clarity_systems_acquisition
<p>Today, IBM announced the acquisition of privately-held Clarity Systems for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition bolsters IBM's solution set for the CFO, and complements its recent acquisition of OpenPages, a governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) vendor. Clarity, based in Toronto, had approximately 390 employees and 600 customers at the time of this deal.</p>
<p>Clarity Systems is a Strong Performer in &quot;<a href="http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/wave%26trade%3B_business_performance_solutions%2C_q4_2009/q/id/48391/t/2">The Forrester Wave&trade;: Business Performance Solutions, Q4 2009</a>&quot;, offering a very good planning, budgeting, and forecasting solution as part of its flagship product, Clarity 7, along with an improved financial consolidations component. During the past few years, Clarity developed a market-leading regulatory reporting solution, Clarity FSR, which supports the process of creating full SEC filings and also embeds technology for XBRL reporting. IBM Cognos is ranked as a Leader in the same comparative evalution.</p>
<p>The success of FSR alone during the past two years made the large BPS vendors, IBM, SAP, and Oracle, envious of Clarity's success. Oracle made a competitive response early this year with the release of Oracle Hyperion Disclosure Management. It seemed to this observer that SAP would make the next move by doing a deal to acquire Clarity, but IBM beat them to the punch.</p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-10-21-ibm_makes_a_good_catch_with_clarity_systems_acquisition" title="Read the rest of &#039;IBM Makes A Good Catch With Clarity Systems Acquisition&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_9214 first"><a href="/category/bps" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">BPS</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_9218"><a href="/category/cfo" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">CFO</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_9216"><a href="/category/cpm" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">CPM</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_9213"><a href="/category/clarity_systems" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Clarity Systems</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_9212"><a href="/category/cognos" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Cognos</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_9215"><a href="/category/epm" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">EPM</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_9217"><a href="/category/finance" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Finance</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_239"><a href="/category/ibm" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">IBM</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_303 last"><a href="/category/business_performance_solutions" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">business performance solutions</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-10-21-ibm_makes_a_good_catch_with_clarity_systems_acquisition#commentsBPSBusiness ProcessCFOCPMClarity SystemsCognosEPMFinanceIBMbusiness performance solutionsThu, 21 Oct 2010 14:41:35 +0000Paul Hamerman5245 at http://blogs.forrester.comWhat Is An "Unconference"? Please Weigh In On Topic Choices. http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-09-03-what_unconference_please_weigh_topic_choices
<p>At Forrester&#39;s <a href="http://www.forrester.com/events/eventdetail/0,9179,2463,00.html"><strong>Business Process And Application Delivery Forum</strong></a>, October 7 and 8 in National Harbor, MD , we are holding a session called an &quot;unconference&quot; in the Business Process content track (there is also an unconference for the Application Development and Delivery track).</p>
<p>What is an &quot;unconference&quot;? you may ask. It&#39;s a session where the attendees are the presenters. Here is how the session is described on our event site:</p>
<p>&quot;Unconferences are the coolest thing going in conferences, having taken a page out of the Web 2.0 and social networking world. Here's how it works: Upon arriving at the Forum, attendees can vote for one of these three topics: 1) the future of packaged apps; 2) the future of BPM, or 3) the role of Social Computing in business processes. Once the winning topic is announced, then it's your turn to sign up to speak at the session. Yes, that's right -- you are the speakers! Those passionate about the topic will each have 3 minutes to discuss the topic and offer a conclusion. It should be a lot of fun, quite democratic, and full of interesting points of view. &quot;</p>
<p>We need your help, whether you have already signed up to attend, considering it, or just learning about the event. <strong>What we would like you to do is select the topic that you are most interested in discussing with your peers.</strong> It only takes a minute. <strong>Vote here:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://deploy.ztelligence.com/start/index.jsp?PIN=15Y6Y9D79ZL6V">http://deploy.ztelligence.com/start/index.jsp?PIN=15Y6Y9D79ZL6V</a>.</p>
<p>From the online survey, we will identify the most popular topics and present them to attendees for final selection. Thanks for your help, hope to see you at the Forum.</p>
<a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-09-03-what_unconference_please_weigh_topic_choices" title="Read the rest of &#039;What Is An &amp;quot;Unconference&amp;quot;? Please Weigh In On Topic Choices. &#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a>http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-09-03-what_unconference_please_weigh_topic_choices#commentsBusiness ProcessFri, 03 Sep 2010 21:58:33 +0000Paul Hamerman4999 at http://blogs.forrester.comSAP Advances Innovation Strategy With Sybase Acquisitionhttp://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-05-12-sap_advances_innovation_strategy_sybase_acquisition
<p>
In late breaking news today, SAP announced a definitive agreement to acquire Sybase for $5.8 billion. The deal will be accretive for SAP and is expected to close in July 2010. Sybase is a profitable company with revenues of $1.2 billion and $1 billion in cash. Sybase Chairman, CEO and President John S. Chen will become a member of SAP&#39;s Executive Board.</p>
<p>
The deal is a good move by SAP mainly because it accelerates SAP's innovation strategy, which is focused on in-memory computing, mobile device applications, analytics, and SaaS. Sybase brings assets to the table in each of these areas:</p>
<ul>
<li>
In-memory databases via its Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) platform and SQL Anywhere.</li>
<li>
Mobile applications development and device management via Sybase Unwired and Afaria.</li>
<li>
Analytics via the Sybase IQ column oriented analytics server and complex event processing (CEP) technology.</li>
<li>
Cloud computing is delivered via Sybase's partnership with Amazon Web Services.</li>
</ul>
<p>
It is also a good move for several other reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>
It extends SAP's industry play with Sybase's strong presence in financial services, as well as increasing its regional presence in AsiaPac.</li>
<li>
It grows revenue profitably, at a time when SAP has been struggling with sales of its own products.</li>
<li>
It makes a move that will get Oracle's attention.</li>
</ul>
<p>
Regarding the latter point, SAP and Oracle regard one another as bitter rivals in applications, yet SAP has a significant dependence on Oracle as a key database platform provider, both for customers and for its own internal use. Potentially, the Sybase ASE database platform will reduce SAP's own dependence on Oracle and give it an opportunity to offer customers another option. However, Sybase is not currently a supported platform for the SAP Business Suite. SAP says it intends to make Sybase a supported platform as soon as possible.</p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-05-12-sap_advances_innovation_strategy_sybase_acquisition" title="Read the rest of &#039;SAP Advances Innovation Strategy With Sybase Acquisition&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a>http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-05-12-sap_advances_innovation_strategy_sybase_acquisition#commentsBusiness ProcessWed, 12 May 2010 23:35:21 +0000Paul Hamerman4338 at http://blogs.forrester.comOracle Puts Another Notch In Its Industry Apps Acquisition Stickhttp://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-04-16-oracle_puts_another_notch_its_industry_apps_acquisition_stick
<p>
Today, Oracle announced yet another acquisition - this one of Phase Forward, a clinical research suite that helps life sciences companies manage their R&amp;D process. Oracle paid $685 million in cash for this acquisition. While my research role focus does not encompass life sciences software specifically, Oracle&#39;s overall apps strategy is definitely of interest to me. My thoughts about this deal are as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Oracle continues to aggressively acquire industry-specific applications to complement its core ERP solutions (e.g., EBS, PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards, and the yet-to-be-released Fusion Applications). Industry apps enable Oracle to achieve deeper relevance with specific types of businesses, and sell them additional products, including middleware, integration accelerators, BI, databases, core ERP applications, and now even computer hardware.</li>
<li>
The Phase Forward clinical trials software puts Oracle into the mix in large pharma accounts, where SAP tends to have the lion&#39;s share of the wallet for applications.</li>
<li>
Healthcare overall is a massive market opportunity for which Oracle has only scratched the surface. Oracle only recently established a Health Sciences Global Business Unit, and more acquisitions can be expected in and around the healthcare ecosystem. Healthcare provider solutions may fit into this build-out at some point.</li>
</ul>
<p>
Your thoughts on Oracle&#39;s apps strategy and portfolio? Feel free to comment here.</p>
<a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-04-16-oracle_puts_another_notch_its_industry_apps_acquisition_stick" title="Read the rest of &#039;Oracle Puts Another Notch In Its Industry Apps Acquisition Stick&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_774 first"><a href="/category/enterprise_applications" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Enterprise Applications</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_76 last"><a href="/category/oracle" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Oracle</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-04-16-oracle_puts_another_notch_its_industry_apps_acquisition_stick#commentsBusiness ProcessEnterprise ApplicationsOracleFri, 16 Apr 2010 13:30:38 +0000Paul Hamerman4155 at http://blogs.forrester.comBusiness Capabilities Are The Strongest Foundation For Tech Strategyhttp://blogs.forrester.com/randy_heffner/10-04-13-business_capabilities_are_strongest_foundation_tech_strategy
<p>In developing a technology strategy for your organization, what will be your basis for deciding which technologies to pursue, when to pursue them, and how to implement them? In other words, what will be the foundation for your technology architecture and strategy? In considering this question, I assume we agree that technology strategy should directly support improvement of business outcomes, both now and over the long haul. To provide for the long haul, your technology architecture and strategy must be crafted to support a continuous stream of business change, both small incremental steps and large radical shifts.</p>
<p>Your strategy could begin with a list of hot technologies -- perhaps even ones that business colleagues are clamoring for -- but how would you know which of them would lead to the most important improvements in business outcomes? You could begin with your top executives' current business plans and strategies -- which would clearly address today's priorities for improving outcomes -- but over the long haul, business plans change, sometimes dramatically, making them an unstable foundation for technology strategy.</p>
<p>Since the goal of technology strategy is to improve business outcomes, let's refine the question with that as our focus: What basis for technology architecture and strategy:</p>
<p>(a) Aligns best with the ways that business leaders conceive, plan, execute, and measure improvements to business outcomes,</p>
<p>(b) Provides the best structure for building technology implementations that align with and facilitate the ways that businesses change both now and over the long haul, and</p>
<p>(c) Best guides the prioritization, planning, architecture, design, and usage of technology within business improvement projects?</p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/randy_heffner/10-04-13-business_capabilities_are_strongest_foundation_tech_strategy" title="Read the rest of &#039;Business Capabilities Are The Strongest Foundation For Tech Strategy&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_756 first"><a href="/category/business_capability_architecture" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Business Capability Architecture</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_455"><a href="/category/business_architecture" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">business architecture</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_757"><a href="/category/business_capabilities" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">business capabilities</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_755 last"><a href="/category/technology_strategy" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">technology strategy</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/randy_heffner/10-04-13-business_capabilities_are_strongest_foundation_tech_strategy#commentsBusiness Capability ArchitectureBusiness Processbusiness architecturebusiness capabilitiestechnology strategyTue, 13 Apr 2010 17:14:09 +0000Randy Heffner4141 at http://blogs.forrester.comSAP Jam Teleconference Notes: SAP's Growth and Innovation Strategieshttp://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-03-22-sap_jam_teleconference_notes_saps_growth_and_innovation_strategies
<p>
Thanks to those of you that attended our SAP Jam Teleconference today, part of a series that will run throughout the week. For details on the next event in the series, see <a href="http://www.forrester.com/rb/teleconference/sap_jam_session_what_should_sap_clients/q/id/6292/t/1">http://www.forrester.com/rb/teleconference/sap_jam_session_what_should_sap_clients/q/id/6292/t/1</a>.</p>
<p>
For those of you unable to attend, I will summarize some of the content that I presented on SAP's overall growth and innovation strategy. SAP has a double-barreled product strategy focused on Growth and Innovation.</p>
<p>
<strong>Growth Strategy</strong></p>
<p>
The Growth strategy rests heavily on the current Business Suite, which includes the core ERP product that is used by approximately 30,000 companies worldwide. SAP claims that it touches 60 percent of the world's business transactions, which is hard to validate but not all that hard to believe. The main revenue source today is Support, which comprises 50% of the total revenues of the company at more than 5 billion Euros annually, and it grew by 15% in 2009. Other growth engines include:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Analytics, which includes the Business Objects portfolio</li>
<li>
SME products, which consists of Business ByDesign, the SaaS product, Business One for small businesses and All-in-One, which is a preconfigured version of the enterprise ERP system.</li>
<li>
Industries, which are a key area of focus for growth that includes both development of new modules for the ERP system and acquisitions that bolster the portfolio in specific industry markets. Though not as aggressive as Oracle to date in acquisitions, look for SAP to step up its game here to drive revenue growth and verticalization.</li>
</ul>
<p>
Two other important strategic elements that we talked about during today's SAP Jam Session included CRM and Sustainability, detailed by my colleagues Bill Band and Alex Peters, respectively.</p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-03-22-sap_jam_teleconference_notes_saps_growth_and_innovation_strategies" title="Read the rest of &#039;SAP Jam Teleconference Notes: SAP&amp;#039;s Growth and Innovation Strategies&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_358 first"><a href="/category/business_bydesign" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Business ByDesign</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_546"><a href="/category/enterprise_support" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Enterprise Support</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_323"><a href="/category/sap" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">SAP</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_283"><a href="/category/saas" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">SaaS</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_547"><a href="/category/business_suite" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">business suite</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_238"><a href="/category/cloud_computing" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">cloud computing</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_235 last"><a href="/category/mobile" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">mobile</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/paul_hamerman/10-03-22-sap_jam_teleconference_notes_saps_growth_and_innovation_strategies#commentsBusiness ByDesignBusiness ProcessEnterprise SupportSAPSaaSbusiness suitecloud computingmobileMon, 22 Mar 2010 20:58:57 +0000Paul Hamerman3984 at http://blogs.forrester.comUpLeveling the Conversation: Social CRM Summit Brings Experts and Social Business Insights Togetherhttp://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/social-crm-summit-brings-experts-and-social-business-insights-together.html
<p>
<strong>#SCRM</strong> (the hash our group uses to communicate on Twitter) group embodies the very essence of what social media is about: genuine authentic, direct and real conversations. Being a participant and a practitioner, I thought I would share my observations and thoughts... not just at this conference, but what I have seen in the actions and behaviors of this group over the past year or more... And these foreshadow a world that is being created right now as you are reading this...</p>
<p>
<strong>#SCRMSUMMIT and #SCRM.</strong> This past week in DC, Paul Greenberg brought together some of the most amazing minds in social business together -- to learn, to share and to grow the body of knowledge. One of the interesting things is that the storm created an extended discussion. Literally, planes were grounded, and not even taxi cabs would take us to downtown for a meal. So the 80 or so of us just parked it in the lobby/bar area. We drank, we ate, and we got to know each other even better. Many of us have become friends over the last several years. Some of us have known each other for over 10 years... And some are brand new to many of us.</p>
<p>
Often times what happens at a conference is that you barely have time to talk to anyone, much less have real conversations. And we did. We talked about the philosophy of social business, where it is going, what&#39;s changing in our worlds as a result and what we see for the future.</p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/social-crm-summit-brings-experts-and-social-business-insights-together.html" title="Read the rest of &#039;UpLeveling the Conversation: Social CRM Summit Brings Experts and Social Business Insights Together&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_202 first"><a href="/category/advanced_analytics" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Advanced analytics</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_137"><a href="/category/customer_service" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Customer Service</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_61"><a href="/category/predictive_analytics/_data_mining" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Predictive analytics / data mining</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_319"><a href="/category/process_analytics" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Process analytics</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_232"><a href="/category/web_20" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Web 2.0</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_250 last"><a href="/category/customer_communication_management" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">customer communication management</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/social-crm-summit-brings-experts-and-social-business-insights-together.html#commentsAdvanced analyticsBusiness ProcessCustomer ServicePredictive analytics / data miningProcess analyticsWeb 2.0customer communication managementMon, 15 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000Natalie Petouhoff3631 at http://blogs.forrester.comCustomer Experience Increases the Bottom-Line and Social Media Makes Changing the Customer Experience Easierhttp://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/customer-experience-increases-the-bottomline-and-social-media-makes-changing-the-customer-experience.html
<p>
91% of executives say customer experiences are critical or very important to their businesses, nearly 5,000 consumers prefer better customers experiences over lower prices and better customer experiences drive higher revenue and profits,--according to Forrester Research .</p>
<p>
While the customer experience does provide bottom-line competitive advantages, most companies still struggle with implementing better experiences. An unexpected outcome of the CRM and Customer Service Social Media research was that many of the obstacles that companies face when implementing change initiatives are dissolved when the company deploys customer service social media. The result? Not only can the company transform customer service, but it can also transform the rest of the companies with solid changes that bring lasting results.</p>
<p>
In surveying nearly 5,000 consumers, Forrester found that across many industries they prefer better experiences than lower prices:</p>
<p>
<a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/f/b/_tp/.a/6a00d8341c50bf53ef0128769974f4970c-pi"></a></p>
<p>
When Forrester calculated the contribution to the bottom-line, for great customer experiences, it found that revenue could be increased substantially. In the case of a retailer, it could be nearly $70 Million:</p>
<p> <a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/f/b/_tp/.a/6a00d8341c50bf53ef012876997873970c-pi"></a> <br />
And its not just Forrester that has found this type of result. Claes Fornell, at the Ross School of Business University of Michigan, has found that stock prices have a correlations with customer satisfaction. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) shows:</p>
<p>
<a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/f/b/_tp/.a/6a00d8341c50bf53ef012876997b30970c-pi"></a><br />
Source: <a href="http://www.theacsi.org/">www.theacsi.org</a></p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/customer-experience-increases-the-bottomline-and-social-media-makes-changing-the-customer-experience.html" title="Read the rest of &#039;Customer Experience Increases the Bottom-Line and Social Media Makes Changing the Customer Experience Easier&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_320 first"><a href="/category/bpm_center_excellence" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">BPM Center of Excellence</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_268"><a href="/category/business_process_improvement" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Business Process Improvement</a></li>
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<li class="taxonomy_term_137"><a href="/category/customer_service" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Customer Service</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_322"><a href="/category/untamed_processes" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Untamed Processes</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_232"><a href="/category/web_20" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Web 2.0</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_203"><a href="/category/business_activity_monitoring" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">business activity monitoring</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_55"><a href="/category/business_intelligence" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">business intelligence</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_250 last"><a href="/category/customer_communication_management" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">customer communication management</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/customer-experience-increases-the-bottomline-and-social-media-makes-changing-the-customer-experience.html#commentsBPM Center of ExcellenceBusiness ProcessBusiness Process ImprovementBusiness Process ManagementCRMCustomer ServiceUntamed ProcessesWeb 2.0business activity monitoringbusiness intelligencecustomer communication managementSun, 14 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000Natalie Petouhoff3633 at http://blogs.forrester.comMore SAP Leadership Changes Announcedhttp://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/more-sap-leadership-changes-announced.html
<p>
Thursday's announcements of additional SAP leadership changes raise more questions than they answer, but a commitment to changing the direction of the company is clear. SAP announced the departures of John Schwarz, head of the SAP Business Objects unit, and Erwin Gunst, Chief Operating Officer. Gerhard Oswald, Executive Board member in charge of global services and support, assumes the role of COO. In addition, Peter Lorenz has been promoted to Corporate Officer, looking after the SAP SME solutions portfolio. These moves follow the resignation CEO Leo Apotheker a few days ago, as well as the appointments of Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe as co-CEOs.</p>
<p>
Gunst's departure, due to health reasons, was expected and was mentioned on Monday in a call with analysts and press. More surprising is the departure of Schwarz, formerly CEO of Business Objects, a respected executive who led the integration of Business Objects following SAP's acquisition 2 years ago. It is appears that Schwarz's departure had something to do with his not being named CEO or co-CEO, but the real reasons are likely more complex. SAP appears to be in the midst of a transition to younger and more energetic leadership, and Schwarz's career may have had limited upside given that Executive Board members are encouraged to retire at age 60 (he's 59).</p>
<p>
The changes are consistent with Chairman and co-founder Hasso Plattner's return to hands-on leadership of the company. The remaining SAP Executive Board members, co-CEOs McDermott and Snabe, CFO Werner Brandt, COO Oswald, and CTO Vishal Sikka, will be expected to carry out Plattner's directives to restore the company's momentum.</p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/more-sap-leadership-changes-announced.html" title="Read the rest of &#039;More SAP Leadership Changes Announced&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_323 first last"><a href="/category/sap" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">SAP</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/more-sap-leadership-changes-announced.html#commentsBusiness ProcessSAPThu, 11 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000Paul Hamerman3634 at http://blogs.forrester.comSAP Announces Changes at the Top; Hasso Steps Uphttp://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/sap-announces-changes-at-the-top.html
<p>On Super Bowl Sunday, February 7, 2010, SAP announced that CEO Leo Apotheker's contract will not be renewed and his resignation is effective immediately. In his place, the company appointed co-CEOs Jim Hagemann Snabe and Bill McDermott. Both executives are already members of the SAP Executive Board, with Snabe in charge of product development and McDermott in charge of field operations prior to their appointment as Co-CEOs. More importantly, perhaps, Supervisory Board Chairman and cofounder Hasso Plattner has stepped up to take a more active role in overseeing the company's direction. Apotheker's departure was not a surprise for most industry followers. His contract was up for renewal things were not going so well for SAP of late. Just a week and a half prior to today's announcement, SAP reported its 2009 financial results, in which total revenue declined 9% for the year (to &euro;10,671) and software revenues declined by 28%. During his watch, customers become disenchanted over the mandatory migration and price increase related to Enterprise Support, as well as overly aggressive sales of featured products, including analytics. Mr. Apotheker couldn't have been expected to perform miracles in a down economy, and can't be blamed for the false starts with Business ByDesign that he inherited. In fact, Business ByDesign has seen significant progress during his tenure and is now ready for market. In addition, Apotheker was instrumental in launching SAP's strong commitment to sustainability during the past year. With the appointment of co-CEOs Snabe and McDermott, SAP continues a long-standing tradition of promoting CEOs from within. Co-CEOs, in fact, have been used before, most recently with Apotheker serving as co-CEO with his predecessor, Henning Kagermann, during the transition period leading up to Kagermann's retirement.<a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/sap-announces-changes-at-the-top.html" title="Read the rest of &#039;SAP Announces Changes at the Top; Hasso Steps Up&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_581 first"><a href="/category/bill_mcdermott" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Bill McDermott</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_580"><a href="/category/jim_snabe" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Jim Snabe</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_582"><a href="/category/leo_apotheker" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Leo Apotheker</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_323 last"><a href="/category/sap" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">SAP</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/sap-announces-changes-at-the-top.html#commentsBill McDermottBusiness ProcessJim SnabeLeo ApothekerSAPMon, 08 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000Paul Hamerman4005 at http://blogs.forrester.comCustomer Service Social Media: Social Media Works for B2B Businesses like Intelhttp://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/customer-service-social-media-case-study-4-social-media-works-for-b2b-businesses-like-intel.html
<p>
Many of the case studies you&#39;ve seen me write about are B2C. But in the report on ROI of Social Media, I gathered data on B2B companies too. Here&#39;s a list of B2B communities.</p>
<p>
Many people know Intel by their catch tune, &quot;Inside Intel.&quot; And what&#39;s inside are the most amazing microprocessors that allow us to do great things back 25 years ago people could only imagine. Key to having been an innovator is always innovating. Intel- when they first came out with a new chip-- think back to the 286 processor and then transition to the 386. They met with some resistance in getting computer manufactuers to be interested in the chip. Why would you need more computing power?</p>
<p>
So instead of staying stuck or ditching the product, Intel brought together a multidisciplinary team of individuals to tackle the problem. The net-net is that the team realized that its the end-user who is really their customer! when they went into computer shops and talked to the customers, they asked, &quot;Would you like to be able to have many files open at once? Would you like to be able to run graphics programs, plays games, etc....&quot; The customers responded positively with, &quot;Of course we would!&quot; That drove the computer store operators to tell the computer manufacturers to get those intel chips in their computers. Ah... I love that &quot;voice of the customer&quot; story.</p>
<p>
But what I love more is that Intel innovated, why? Because they listened. That&#39;s a skill most companies don&#39;t have. And with social media, Intel has put their listening on dual processor tubro charged power. They know that their ability to innovate and lead the market is based on harnessing the power, knowledge and collaboration among customers, resellers, etc.. and Intel.</p>
<p>
This is from the following report:</p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/customer-service-social-media-case-study-4-social-media-works-for-b2b-businesses-like-intel.html" title="Read the rest of &#039;Customer Service Social Media: Social Media Works for B2B Businesses like Intel&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_583 first"><a href="/category/b2b" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">B2B</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_79"><a href="/category/crm" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">CRM</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_137"><a href="/category/customer_service" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Customer Service</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_399"><a href="/category/intel" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Intel</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_115 last"><a href="/category/social_media" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Social media</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/02/customer-service-social-media-case-study-4-social-media-works-for-b2b-businesses-like-intel.html#commentsB2BBusiness ProcessCRMCustomer ServiceIntelSocial mediaMon, 08 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000Natalie Petouhoff4006 at http://blogs.forrester.comCase Study #8: How to Use Twitter for Customer Service: Carphone WareHousehttp://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/01/how-to-use-twitter-for-customer-service-carphone-warehouse.html
<p>
Many of my clients have asked, &quot;How should I use Twitter for customer service?&quot; There are many applications that are adding Twitter as part of the contact center apps. But today I&#39;d like to talk about the basics of using Twitter. I spoke with Anne Wood, the Head of Knowledge Management at Carphone Warehouse to learn about how they entered into Twitterland.</p>
<p dir="ltr">
The Carphone Warehouse (CPW) is Europe&#39;s leading independent retailer of mobile phones and services, with over 2,400 stores in 9 countries. Their customers were already posting comments on Twitter and other places in the cloud. CPW made the decision to publicly acknowledge customer complaints and harness the power of saying, "I'm sorry," using Twitter as part of their customer service technology. CPW's approach on Twitter started with two accounts @guy1067 and @carphoneware and eventually they added more.<br />
<strong>Anne told me,<br />
</strong><em>&quot;We realized we can't control whether customers are complaining or the content of the complaints they post in the cloud. We also realized customer complaints are a positive driving force for changes that need to happen within our company."<br />
</em><strong>CPW finds that customers turn to Twitter for a number of reasons:</strong></p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/01/how-to-use-twitter-for-customer-service-carphone-warehouse.html" title="Read the rest of &#039;Case Study #8: How to Use Twitter for Customer Service: Carphone WareHouse&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_79 first"><a href="/category/crm" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">CRM</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_137"><a href="/category/customer_service" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Customer Service</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_232"><a href="/category/web_20" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Web 2.0</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_250 last"><a href="/category/customer_communication_management" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">customer communication management</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/01/how-to-use-twitter-for-customer-service-carphone-warehouse.html#commentsBusiness ProcessCRMCustomer ServiceWeb 2.0customer communication managementWed, 27 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000Natalie Petouhoff3512 at http://blogs.forrester.comCase Study #7: NetApp Marketing Takes Ownership Of Its Community Initiative To Ensure Successhttp://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/01/case-study-7-cisco-consumer-business-group-builds-the-business-case-for-social-media.html
<p>NetApp is an industry-leading provider of storage and data management solutions. It has a presence in more than 100 countries-- thousands of customers and a network of more than 2,200 partners-- and a culture of innovation, technology leadership, and customer success. The company was seeking to build higher brand awareness and deeper engagement with employees, customers, and partners and decided to deploy both customer and employee communities. To ensure success, the marketing function took the leadership role in designing and implementing the communities -- with broad participation from other stakeholders.</p>
<p>Centralizing accountability helped to align community goals, strategies, and tactics. The work done to launch the employee community allowed NetApp to launch its customer-facing community. More than 9,000 users from 100 countries registered in the first eight months, with 78% of the community users external to the company (customers, partners, technology experts).</p>
<p>The membership year to date has grown to more than 26,000. There are currently around 900 active participants, and the current repeat visits to the community is about 50% of the members. The internal community, NetApp Live, has grown faster than projected to include almost all employees as registered users.</p>
<p>Discussions in the community tapped into a much richer pool of ideas that help drive company and product priorities. The community established a forum for customers and partners to continually provide feedback to NetApp. NetApp mines these discussions to enhance its products and services to meet the most pressing needs of its customer base.</p>
<p>The community implementation sped delivery of the company's new branding initiative, reduced support costs, improved customer transparency, and delivered a new channel for product ideation and feedback.</p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/01/case-study-7-cisco-consumer-business-group-builds-the-business-case-for-social-media.html" title="Read the rest of &#039;Case Study #7: NetApp Marketing Takes Ownership Of Its Community Initiative To Ensure Success&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_79 first"><a href="/category/crm" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">CRM</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_137"><a href="/category/customer_service" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Customer Service</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_232"><a href="/category/web_20" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Web 2.0</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_250 last"><a href="/category/customer_communication_management" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">customer communication management</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/business_process/2010/01/case-study-7-cisco-consumer-business-group-builds-the-business-case-for-social-media.html#commentsBusiness ProcessCRMCustomer ServiceWeb 2.0customer communication managementSun, 24 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000Natalie Petouhoff3555 at http://blogs.forrester.com